main battery questions

[joehinvt]

ok..under the hood of my 93 fleetwood southwind...ford chassis..it has a large 12 volt battery,marine, and two 6v hooked up in series makeing them 12v.. which is the main and which is the auxillary?? also when i start the rv the po says you must push the button on the dash near column with a lightning bolt on it...what the heck is that? when i turn the key to start it clicked like a dead battery...but push the button while in crank position it turns over and starts! two days later i try to start and it will only run while holding that button....i used the meter by the oven...when hitting aux the lights go up to green in the ok area...the main doesent light up at all! but it did light up a tiny bit the other day...

[wildtoad]

Sounds like the 12v is the chassis battery and the 2 6v are the house batteries. It also sounds like you should take all batteries and have them tested.

[joehinvt]

well that will be easy..i run an auto parts store! lol gonna bring the tester home tomorrow..

[awarnes]

Yea you shouldn't have to push the emergency start button unless your coach battery is low or dead. I had the same problem until I found the altenator wasn't recharging the coach battery.

[joehinvt]

while running the alt gauge shows it charging..is that button makeing all the batteries tie in or is it doing something else?

[Cat320]

When you push the button with the lightning bolt on it, you are starting the MH with the truck battery AND the house batteries...that switch brings the house batteries on line. You should not have to do that, the truck battery alone should start it.

[joehinvt]

well that about says it all! thanks guys..new battery goes in tomorrow!

[wa8yxm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildtoad Sounds like the 12v is the chassis battery and the 2 6v are the house batteries. It also sounds like you should take all batteries and have them tested.

I will second that.. That is the standard configuratin by the way.

The two six volt Golf Car are Deep cycle, The marine battery, Even if it says "Marine/Deep cycle" is really a starting battery that's anemic. Nothing more

Three types of batteries

Starting: Will crank her up even if it's sub zero out
Marine: These batteries are designed to be "Best when above freezing out"
DEEP CYCLE.. Not as concerned with temps as others but for their size but not as much muscle per pound

Those two six volts are 220 amp hours at the 20 hour rate.. The one starting battery is likely less than half that, but can actually DELIVER current faster (THe "Muscle" I refer to above is starting power, or cranking amps)

WHich is why they use that configuration (in case you wonder)

[joehinvt]

new battery is in and everything works like a charm!! the steps(which havent worked since i bought it three days ago)started working even! thanks everyone for the help!! joe h.